Regarding this game, because the incident happened suddenly, Gao Wen did not have time to study Kei Nishikori’s recent game videos carefully, but it does not mean that Sampras and Gao Wen were not prepared——
Gao Wen and Dimitrov are two substitutes. They stay in London and have no other tasks. Their daily task is to watch the games. All the group matches so far will be watched live until a game is played.
Therefore, even if you haven’t studied the game videos, you definitely don’t know anything.
A very noteworthy detail is:
Last week in Paris, Kei Nishikori lost to Djokovic; in London this week, Kei Nishikori lost to Federer. They all have one thing in common.
"6:3", "6:2".
The scores of the two games are exactly the same.
Against Djokovic, Kei Nishikori only broke serve once in the game and wasted three break points; against Federer, Kei Nishikori had three break points in the game, but wasted them all and failed to break serve.
And, more than that, when Kei Nishikori defeated Murray in London this week, he wasted four of eight break points and broke serve four times.
At the same time, in these three games, Kei Nishikori sent more than seven break points and lost multiple service games without exception.
Judging from Kei Nishikori's serve alone, it is a "standard ending", but judging from Kei Nishikori's break success rate, it has dropped significantly compared to the US Open.
The reason is very intuitive.
On indoor hard courts, Kei Nishikori consciously adjusted his playing style to increase his aggressiveness, because the ball speed on indoor hard courts is very fast, leaving too little time for defense and defensive counterattacks. The game often still needs to be solved through offense.
Fight for victory.
Kei Nishikori is not good at taking the initiative, so he uses rhythm control to compress the space for returning the ball, and further hits the rebound ball and the rising point to force the opponent into passiveness. Then, when encountering indoor hard courts with low bounce and little reaction time,
Uncontrollable uncertainty will increase.
Naturally, the error rate will also increase.
Especially when it comes to key points, Kei Nishikori doesn't control mistakes very well. He should still be looking for the rhythm and feel of indoor hard court attacks.
This is also a problem that Kei Nishikori will inevitably face in his own style of play. The weakness in absolute strength needs to be compensated by other techniques, and the intuitive results can be seen in the indoor hard court season, with a decline in break success rate.
Generally speaking, it is always more difficult to face Federer in the "fast vs. fast" game style, because Federer himself is very good at playing fast and is difficult to be brought down; moreover, Federer is in the "fast VS fast" game.
The control of rhythm during the ball is also unique in the world of professional tennis.
Therefore, Kei Nishikori lost directly against Federer.
Relatively speaking, Kei Nishikori can have some advantages over Djokovic, Murray, Gawain, etc., because they are not players who play with absolute power or absolute speed. They often need time to plan, and
A transition between offense and defense is required, but Kei Nishikori can always compress the opponent's return time and disrupt the time and space for thinking and layout.
So, facing Djokovic and Murray, Kei Nishikori won one and lost one.
Today, against Gawain, Kei Nishikori does have a slight advantage simply in terms of style and type of competition.
So, how should Gawain respond?
Although Gao Wen is not Djokovic or Federer, Gao Wen has his own way of coping. What's more, this is the second time they have played against each other:
Some things still need to be adapted again, even if it is the same opponent, every game and every game is different; but some things do not need to be.
My brain is already working quickly.
Therefore, when the game started, from the first point, Gao Wen's concentration was already immersed in the game and he immediately entered a competitive state.
"40:0".
At the beginning, Gao Wen played steadily in his serving game.
Logically speaking, as the O2 Stadium is an indoor hard court, the ball speed should be faster, but in fact, the ball speed at the O2 Stadium is slightly slower than the Arthur Ashe Stadium, but the bounce height is also slightly lower, so that the O2 Stadium is difficult to control.
The requirements for strength are higher, and the lightning and flint need to be more delicate and decisive.
It is precisely because of this that in Kei Nishikori's first two games at the O2 Arena, he was more aggressive in grabbing points. The entire batting rhythm was very intensive and very fast, even risking a drop in the quality of the batting and a deviation in the landing point of the return ball.
Risk, bring up the entire rhythm as much as possible, like a tornado.
For Kei Nishikori, Sampras and Gawain formulated tactics together:
Serve, decelerate and reduce force, increase top spin, so as to be close to the serve on the clay court, and limit Kei Nishikori's attack.
First of all, Kei Nishikori is relatively short, so once the tennis ball hits the ground and rebounds above the shoulder, his swing will be very uncomfortable.
Secondly, Kei Nishikori's strength is relatively weak, and his ability to actively exert force is not enough, but he is very proficient in using force, and his performance is better when facing strong serves.
Again, even when facing Federer, Kei Nishikori was very fierce in grabbing the serve, mainly hoping to pick up the rhythm with the shot of receiving the serve.
As a result, the tactics tailor-made for Nishikori Kei came out accordingly.
If Gawain chooses to serve from the inside or outside corner, then he will reduce the force and slow down, pull up the top spin, force Kei Nishikori to catch the ball in an awkward position, and limit Kei Nishikori's ability to grab the serve.
If Gawain chooses to serve from close range, then increase the speed and use a flat serve to squeeze Kei Nishikori's swing as much as possible, forcing him to be unable to launch a counterattack.
The entire serving strategy is very clear and specific, and then as the game progresses, it is adjusted according to the actual situation, disrupting Kei Nishikori's tactical deployment.
Maybe, Gao Wen is not a big shot player, but many people overlook one thing. In fact, Gao Wen's serve control is very good, with spin, placement and power, and he is full of tricks.
This point on the game point is the most representative.
Zone two, first shot, outer corner.
Speed 170 kilometers per hour.
Gawain mainly focused on control and spin, with a very shallow landing point and strong topspin. After landing, he bounced high. Kei Nishikori's prediction was not in place, and his steps were slightly slower. He barely managed to cut back with a two-handed backhand.
.
Kei Nishikori was still trying to catch the serve. Even though his batting action was awkward, he tried his best to hit a flat shot, and then tried his best to control the landing point of the return ball as deep as possible, risking that it might go directly out of bounds.
Suppress Gawain's next offensive connection.
But Gawain was mentally prepared for this.
Small step, continuous small step adjustment.
The dazzling steps were like a wave of micro-steps, and most importantly, Gawain took a half-step to the side to get out of the way to ensure that his forehand could fully swing the racket, and accurately predicted that Nishikori Kei's return ball would be in the middle.
line.
One side, one wave.
At the moment of release, the body is pressed forward and the steps are moved backward, but the body is pressed along with the swing movement, and the force of the body is used to complete the push, and the wrist is pushed gently in the direction of the small diagonal line.
Hit quickly, play quickly.
I hit a rebound ball almost right next to my feet, but the speed and connection of the ball were completely improved, and the tennis ball went straight out.
boom!
Disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The forehand diagonal winning point, "love-game", easily kept serve and only took 93 seconds.